


Life as an Extraordinary Human

by squishyhobi



Category: The Lodge (UK TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 23:20:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14175546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squishyhobi/pseuds/squishyhobi
Summary: Most people believe that everyone they see is an ordinary human just like them, but there are many who possess abilities - Ben Evans isn't one of those, but his mother and his brother are. When the two boys return home to find their parents have been murdered, Ben hopes to keep the Extraordinary aspect of Ethan's life out of their home, but that becomes difficult to do when some local Extraordinaries find out about Ethan.





	Life as an Extraordinary Human

Returning to the house, hoping to see the pleasant smiles on their parents facing, Ethan and Ben were both content. It was a tradition for them to stay at a camp for the summer, and now they were finally back. Ethan was going on a story about how he almost showed a little too much to the boy’s at camp, being born as a ‘gifted’ human, Ethan took after his mother. Their father was a human, just as Ben was, but Natalie and Ethan were both extraordinary beings, harnessing powers of sorts. Ethan’s ability was based around water, he could breathe underwater and to an extent he was able to control it too. Their mother was able to communicate with animals, it didn’t have much of a threat to it – but being able to communicate meant she’d be able to get assistance of animals. As Ben stepped onto the garden he put a hand in front of Ethan and looked at the sight in front of them. They had pet chickens, five to be precise, and when Ben and Ethan stepped into the view of the chickens, the five of them rushed to the chicken wire fence and began screeching at the boys. Ben didn’t need to be extraordinary to know that wasn’t a good sign. 

“They’ve never done that before,” Ben whispered to Ethan.

“You think something’s wrong?”

Ben nodded, he then rushed ahead, Ethan followed closely behind. As Ben unlocked the front door, he stepped inside, and everything seemed ordinary. Ben placed his bag down by the door and examined the area curiously, “mum?” He called out, hoping for a response, “dad?”

“Perhaps they’re out?” Ethan offered, sounding worried.

“Their cars are out front,” Ben replied, he began to climb the stairs, “mum?”

Ethan cautiously followed Ben up the stairs, not wanting to be left alone in case something was wrong in the house. Ben approached the door of his parent’s bedroom, he could see the light from the room in the gap at the bottom of the door – he knew that their parents turned the light off whenever they weren’t in the room.

“Mum?” Ben pressed his ear against the door, there was no response, he let out a sigh, “look, if you and dad are… Going at it, just tell me to leave, I’ll take Ethan out to the park or something,” he waited again, “dad?”

It was only silent on the other side of the door, so Ben decided to open it, perhaps his parents went out in a rush and forgot to switch the lights of – but that didn’t explain the cars still being in front of the house. He peeked around the door, just in case his parents were asleep, but what he found instead took his breath away, he managed to mumble out a ‘stay here’ to Ethan and rushed into the room, closing the door behind him.

On the bed, next to each other, was his parents.

It wasn’t a sight he was hoping for, it was the exact opposite. A nightmare. His heart practically stopped.

They were there on their bed, but not happily sat up chatting to one another, not even napping. Like Ben, they weren’t breathing. The blood covered clothes and sheets were a horrid sight, Ben fell back against the door and shook his head, he didn’t want to believe what he was seeing. His parents were dead, it was confusing, there was no way this could be happening. He quickly pulled out his phone and dialled 999, his shaking hands making it ever so slightly difficult for him. He held the phone to his ear and tried to steady his breathing, so he could explain the issue at hand.

From there, Ben remembered nothing other than keeping Ethan out of the room. 

Nine months down the line, the two boys were orphans, living alone. There was nobody else for them to go to, Ben fought to keep Ethan in his own care – knowing he couldn’t let the boy end up in the care system. Ethan needed to stay with him rather than somebody who knew nothing about him. It worked out in their favour, Ben was old enough, so it was easier than he initially thought it would be. 

However, even after nine months, Ben couldn’t escape the horrid memory of his parent’s bodies. The death had been ruled as a suicide pact, but Ben knew it wasn’t – there was absolutely no way his parents would do that. He didn’t understand how they ruled it in that way, he had been there, he had seen it, he knew it wasn’t a suicide. At the same point, he didn’t know of anyone willing to kill his parents. They were locally loved, adored even. They were the high school sweethearts of the neighbourhood. 

So, who would murder them?

It was a constant thought process for Ben, analysing everything he saw, asking himself if certain people were even remotely capable of causing such strife to a family. Lindsey Porter, the town’s loved baker, was the highest on the suspect list, and the only reason behind that was because she had once complimented Ben’s father – so perhaps it all stemmed down to jealous, but he gave up on that idea quickly. Nobody local was the culprit. 

Ben jumped out of his curious focus when the toast popped out of the toaster, he laughed quietly to himself and placed the toast onto the plate, barely caring about the temperature. He quickly grabbed the butter and spread it across the toast, coating it in a thick layer of already melting butter. He turned around as Ethan placed a box on top of the kitchen table.

“Check this out!”

“Where did you find that?” Ben asked as he leaned back against the counter, he picked up a slice of toast and bit into it as Ethan began to explain himself.

“Under the stairs.”

“Why were you under the stairs?” Ben pulled a face at his brother.

“Bouncy balls lose control,” Ethan shrugged as he responded, “this is mum’s stuff from when she was a teenager! Look!” He pulled out a framed photograph of their mother at a younger age, standing with her father, and it seemed that they were also with another couple. Ben walked over to get a closer look and smiled as he saw the joy on their faces.

“Why didn’t mum keep this out?” Ben laughed as he took it out of Ethan’s hands, “it’s… It looks like a happy memory.”

Ethan nodded, “do you reckon they’re Extraordinaries? Like me and mum?”

“Don’t be silly,” Ben placed the frame on the table, “Extraordinaries are hard to find, I highly doubt that mum was friends with any others.”

“But she always said about that one guy she knew, Walter! She said he-”

“You need to go to school,” Ben interrupted Ethan, giving him a stern look, “if you don’t leave now you’ll be late, and I don’t want Ms. Keegan chasing me down because of it.”

“Fine,” Ethan sighed, “but I’m looking through the box when I get home.”

“Sure,” Ben sighed, “I’m not going to be able to stop you anyway.”

* * * * *

Like clockwork, Ethan and Ben would always arrive home at the same time, whilst Ethan was in school, Ben was helping at the local animal shelter – his mother had loved it there, it only felt right continuing it for her. Unlike his mother, however, Ben was unable to communicate with the animals. Many of them seemed to recognise his scent, similar to his mother’s, so when he’d feed them they’d be more than happy to see him. 

Ben walked into the kitchen still in the clothes he wore at the shelter – even his name badge, seeing the box was still on the table. He thought about moving it, so that Ethan wouldn’t be able to look through it, but just as he picked up the box from the table, Ethan ran into the room. 

“What are you doing with the box?” Ethan dropped his schoolbag onto the floor and frowned up at his older brother.

Ben placed it back on the table and then let out a sigh, “I was going to put it away.”

“What?” Ethan quickly grabbed the box, “no way! You said I could look through it!”

Ben shook his head, “I know if you look through it you’ll end up getting the wrong idea, you’ll probably want to chase up some Extraordinary lead, we need to forget about your abilities, Ethan.”

Ethan pulled a face, crossing his arms in anger, “no way! I’m not forgetting about being Extraordinary! I have great abilities, mum was proud of me.”

“Well mum isn’t here now,” Ben snapped, “it was probably being an Extraordinary that got her killed.”

“Why can’t you just admit it was a suicide?” Ethan tugged the box away from Ben.

“Because it wasn’t! Mum and dad would never do that, people know that.”

“People also know that nobody would murder them,” Ethan mumbled, he opened the box, and looked inside curiously as though he hadn’t been in it before – even though he had seen the frame earlier, “there’s so many letters in here,” he paused as he lifted up a pile of them, “makes sense, she always hated e-mails and messenger,” he examined the top letter and let out a childish laugh, “to my darling Natalie,” he looked up at Ben again, “this has to be from dad!”

Ben grabbed the letter from Ethan and began to read it curiously, smiling as he read through the words his father had written for his mother. Sure enough, at the bottom, it was signed Kieran Evans. He looked up when Ethan spoke up again.

“Who’s Jenny?” Ethan placed the pile on the table and then took five sheets of paper, “these are all written by her.”

“Mum had a pen pal,” Ben hummed curiously as he moved around to Ethan’s side, he looked through the letter briefly, noticing that ‘Jenny’ had written about her love for a boy named Ed, Ben looked to the framed photo of the four young friends, “this must be her, Jenny…”

“Jenny was an Extraordinary!” Ethan pointed to one line of the letter.

_You’ll be pleased to know that our family is doing well, my young Skye has shown some signs of being Extraordinary just like her mother. She makes me proud, I know you’re awaiting a sign from Benjamin, but I assure you it will happen one day, and you’ll be most proud of him then!_

Ben looked away from the letter and crossed his arms uncomfortably, “mum wanted me to be an Extraordinary? She always said she loved me as I was.”

“She did,” Ethan shrugged, “but you were still young when that was written, mum probably thought you’d be an Extraordinary.”

“But I wasn’t,” Ben rolled his eyes and let out a scoff, “she probably always loved you more anyway,” he moved away from the table, “when you’ve finished nosing through that stuff, we’ll put it in the attic.”

Ethan mimicked Ben before continuing to read through the piles of letters, he stopped on one, it was dated far earlier than the others, but it seemed perfectly intact.

“Dear Natalie Miller, we are delighted to inform you that you have been accepted at the North Star Academy for Extraordinaires!” Ethan stopped reading and cocked his head, “there’s an academy for Extraordinaries?”

“It probably doesn’t exist anymore,” Ben hissed out, “mum would have told you about it,” he flipped the frame over, so he couldn’t see the photo, “so don’t get any ideas.”

“If there are people like me out there, Ben, I should meet them.”

“No,” Ben glared at him, “no, you’re not meeting anyone just because they’re frea-” Ben stopped, looking at his brother’s face which quickly turned into a hurt expression, “they’re still strangers, no matter what you have in common.”

“Because we’re freaks,” Ethan whispered, knowing exactly what Ben was going for, “I’m glad I know what you really think of me.”

“Ethan.”

Ethan shook his head, “I totally get it, and it’s fine,” he pulled the box closer, “talk to me when you’re not being a total asshole.”

“Don’t talk to me like that,” Ben spat back at his younger brother, taking a stance of authority.

“Don’t call me, mum, and all other Extraordinaries ‘Freaks’ then,” Ethan quickly packed up the box and picked it up, he ran out of the kitchen and made his way up the stairs to his room. Once inside the room, he placed the box on his desk and ran back to shut his door.

The box was full of information that could make his mother’s story so much clearer, she had never told him or Ben about the Extraordinary academy, perhaps he’d find out why. He pulled out the photograph and set it up on his desk, and then he began to pull out the letters curiously, placing the ones he had already read on the desk. The letters he hadn’t read, he placed on the other side of the box and then looked inside in hope of finding something else, his eyes set on his mother’s journal. He pulled out the journal and grinned as he examined the cover of it. He quickly opened it and began reading, his mother’s adventures at the academy all documented in her journal. 

Ben burst into his room suddenly, glaring at his brother as he let the door closed, “don’t walk away from me like that, Ethan!”


End file.
